King Tubby

An Influence on Practically More Genres Than Anyone Else
Except Perhaps Elvis Presley

by Paul Dickow (June 1997)

Shortly before my sophomore year in college I realized that my musical
tastes were taking off in all directions. I was listening to experimental
rockn'roll, old punk, hip-hop, techno, and the freshly introduced
drum n'bass more or less all at once. This isn't really abnormal, but it
occurred to me that there had to be some kind of thread tying
it all together.

I got to Portland and immediately did a record store tour. At Second
Avenue Records I found myself unusually attracted to the reggae
section. I had become hooked on DUB just from looking at the covers of the
reissued King Tubby lp's (there are probably thousands out there). I bought a couple of them and I figured out why
I was so drawn to this music. I had heard a lot of reggae with vocals, and
I was familiar with modern labels such as On-U Sound, but I hadn't heard
old dub.

The late, great King Tubby (aka Osborne Ruddock) got his start in the 60's; he wasn't a
musician (Tubby wasn't an instrumentalist, as such) but he was a
recording engineer. The apocryphal version of the story is that Jamaican
dj's needed ways to recycle the same basic music endlessly so that a few
records could last through a whole dance party. King Tubby took this
idea to the next level: he pioneered the music of post-production
recording.

Essentially, records 'by' King Tubby consist of Tubby and one of his
associate bands, such as the Aggrovators. The group plays a song, and then
King Tubby completes his song through a remix. A few aspects of King Tubby
have remained integral to the dub genre: the bass and drums are mixed high
in the mix; the melodies are mixed in spordically. I'm still hooked on
this setup. Tubby allowed for the instruments to be controlled via the
mixing board by an engineer--who could imply the melody by turning the
knob, make an instrument echo unexpectedly, or make the whole group sound
like they were playing in a concert hall underwater with primitive reverb
equipment.

King Tubby's most interesting work, in my opinion, is that from the
1970's. The systems were well enough in place to be consistent, but the
recordings still retain the rough charm of tape-delay echoes, spring
reverbs, and thick analog tape sound. I would argue, however, that you
don't have to listen to King Tubby to enjoy what he invented. Like I
mentioned at the beginning of the article, I actually convinced myself
that early dub was the musical element which tied all my interests
together. I still believe this. Pretty much everything I listen to has, to
some degree, this element of post-production processing and remixing. My
favorite punk groups--Pere Ubu, The Pop Group, The Ex, and Crass--were all
using rough editing techniques and dub effects like sudden echoes to
create a sense of disjuncture and mayhem. Not long after, experimental
New Wave groups like the Flying Lizards employed these same dub
techniques.

More important than King Tubby's impact on rock n'roll, however, is that
his invention of the processor-as-musician role facilitated hip-hop and
other electronic musics. A lot of hip hop employs the dub tradition of
giving the bass and drums most of the room in the mix, and is open ended
enough to be edited in remix for use by dj's. Like the dub mixers, the hip-hop
dj can be a musician through manipulating readymade musical sources. The
dub engineer with his tapes is analogous to the dj with his records and
mixing deck.

I feel like every record I buy is referencing dub. Recent experimental
rockn'roll groups use echo, reverb, and fades to process their music; many
electronic groups use dub-reggae-ish melodies on more slow, groove-based
tracks, King Tubby has everything to do with this. He built some
equipment, and did live remxing of reggae bands for years. Eventually,
this was adopted in the UK when punk was adopting reggae as a form of
resistance music and it's still around. For me, listening to
King Tubby helps me to understand why every record I buy is more or less
a remix album.

I guess I'm making King Tubby seem more consequential than is necessary.
If you like the sounds which can be created with really ringy, clangy
spring reverbs, and like the bass and drums of reggae, then go out and get
some King Tubby records!

Suggested Listening:

Blood and Fire has been releasing various
retrospectives--some of individual dub engineers like King Tubby and my
second favorite, Scientist--and some collaborative works. The packaging is
consistent and well done and is a great addition to any collection. Rod Of Correction Showcase on Clocktower (now reissued on Abraham) is also especially fine.